Like his progenitor, Jean-Luc Picard, Shinzon was diagnosed with Shalaft's Syndrome at an early age. Hypersensitive to any kind of sound, young Shinzon suffered until a Romulan physician could be found who was capable of treating rare Human illnesses.

Not long after Shinzon was created, though, power within the Romulan Empire had shifted and the Romulan Senate abandoned its plan, believing it to be too provocative an act if discovered. With no use for such a clone, the Empire exiled Shinzon from Romulus, sending him to work as a slave laborer in the dilithiummines on Remus.

Reviled by the Romulans working there, Shinzon became the target of abuse. In his time in the mines, he was severely beaten, having his nose and jaw broken by brutal Romulan guards, also being forced to work for eighteen hours a day, being constantly lashed with Romulan whips. One Reman, however, took pity on Shinzon, teaching him strength and compassion and protecting him when he could from the Romulans. This man would become Shinzon's Viceroy in the conflict to follow.

Rise to power

Enlisting the aid of the slaves on Remus, the Romulan military drafted Shinzon who quickly distinguished himself in battle and ascended the ranks. Like his Starfleet counterpart, Shinzon became regarded as a great tactician, leading twelve successful engagements against the Jem'Hadar.

Following the end of the Dominion War, Shinzon had both military experience and a capable army at his disposal. Forming an alliance with several Romulan officials, including Senator Tal'aura and CommandersSuran and Donatra, Shinzon vowed to free his Reman "brothers". Setting into motion a plan to overthrow the Romulan government, he and his cohorts constructed a massive warbird, the Scimitar. Operating out of a secret base, Shinzon and his people also developed a weapon, utilizing deadly thalaron radiation. Deploying a small thalaron projector in the Romulan Senate, Shinzon was able to kill all the Senate members.

Shinzon's days, however, were numbered. Abandoned by his Romulan creators, Shinzon's temporal RNA aging program was never activated, and thus it began slowly breaking down his cellular structure. The only way for him to avoid death was to make a complete blood transfusion from the only genetically-compatible donor.

Towards this end, Shinzon concocted an elaborate plot to lure the USS Enterprise-E (and by extension Picard) to Romulus. He planted the pieces of a Soong-typeandroid, B-4, on Kolarus III, where he knew that the Enterprise would find it. As a result, the Enterprise was the closest starship available when Shinzon offered to open peace negotiations between the Federation and the Romulans, and Picard sailed directly into the trap.

Meeting with Picard

Upon meeting Picard, Shinzon delayed his plans, having acquired an intense interest in his originator's history and the history of the Picard family. He also became smitten with CounselorDeanna Troi, who was the first Human woman (albeit, only half-Human) he had ever seen.

The Scimitar and the Enterprise-E rendezvous

During his first meeting with Picard and members of his crew, Shinzon remained hidden in the shadows (he and his Reman "brothers" were not comfortable in the light) and informed Picard of his intentions to negotiate peace with the Federation. After correctly guessing what Picard thought of such a negotiation, Shinzon revealed himself to his doppelgänger. This revelation shocked Picard, who now realized himself to be facing a younger version of himself. Shinzon then cut his own hand with his knife and gave the knife to Lieutenant CommanderData to have DoctorBeverly Crusher examine his blood. Afterward, he invited Picard to dinner in the Romulan Senate, insisting that they had "much to discuss".

During the dinner, Shinzon explained to Picard how and why he was created and his upbringing in the mines of Remus. Shinzon then asked with great curiosity about the history of the Picard family. Despite their obvious similarities, however, Picard was reluctant to forge a friendship with Shinzon and an alliance with his Romulan government until the Praetor had earned his trust. When Picard left, Shinzon was informed by his Viceroy that they were wasting time and reminded the young clone of their mission.

Shinzon and his viceroy

Afterward, Shinzon and the Viceroy returned to the Scimitar. Instead of proceeding with their mission, however, Shinzon had the Viceroy form a telepathic link between Shinzon's mind and that of Counselor Troi's so that he could make love with the woman he had become fascinated with. This telepathic form of rape was a violation and traumatic experience for Troi, but would ultimately assist in Shinzon's downfall.

When further delay was unacceptable because of the accelerating deterioration of his condition, Shinzon ordered B-4 to be beamed aboard the Scimitar to download the data the android had acquired from the Enterprisecomputer. Afterward, Shinzon kidnapped Picard by transporting him from the Enterprise's sickbay to the brig aboard the Scimitar. As soon as Shinzon left the brig, Picard managed to escape from the Scimitar with the help of Data, who had taken the place of B-4, and left the Romulan system aboard the Enterprise at maximum warp. During the subsequent trip, Data assured Picard that Shinzon would not have been him even if the two had lived the same lives, because Picard had always aspired to better himself and his understanding of the universe around him, while Shinzon sought nothing but death and destruction for those who had 'oppressed' him.

The Battle of the Bassen Rift

Desperate, Shinzon ordered the Scimitar to pursue the Enterprise, and launched an attack in the Bassen Rift, a region where subspace communications were unavailable. In the battle that ensued, Picard continued to elude capture with the assistance of Romulan reinforcements – Commander Donatra had betrayed Shinzon, realizing that Shinzon didn't just plan to attack the Federation with the thalaron radiation weapon, but actually planned mass genocide. She subsequently aided Picard in a battle for some time before her ship, the IRW Valdore, was heavily damaged by a disruptor blast from the Scimitar.

A dying Shinzon on the bridge of his ship

For some time, the battle was in Shinzon's favor, due mostly to his ship's ability to fire while cloaked. Things changed, however, when Troi reopened the telepathic link that was made between herself and the Viceroy, allowing the Enterprise to pinpoint the Scimitar's exact location. With its cloak disabled, the Scimitar began taking damage – but Shinzon was not through yet. After the Enterprise's shields took extensive damage, Shinzon ordered the Viceroy to lead a boarding party to retrieve Picard. But the boarding party that had beamed to the Enterprise were pinned down, and the Viceroy himself was killed by William T. Riker in a maintenance shaft.

On the whole, however, the battle was not going well for the Enterprise. Shinzon had nearly crippled the Federation ship and had even destroyed a section of its bridge, sending at least one Starfleet officer hurtling to his death. Overconfident, Shinzon had the Scimitar turn to face the battle-damaged Enterprise. Picard then turned the tables by ramming the Enterprise into the Scimitar, a move which Shinzon did not expect and which he could not avoid. With both ships heavily damaged, Shinzon ordered his Reman officer to activate the thalaron weapon and to fire at the Enterprise. He then ordered the officer to take the Scimitar into Federation space and complete their mission once every living thing aboard Enterprise was dead.

Picard and the death of Shinzon

To stop the thalaron weapon from firing, Picard beamed himself to the Scimitar. On the Scimitar bridge, Picard managed to kill all Reman crewmembers with his phaser rifle. As Shinzon's health condition worsened, he engaged Picard in a ferocious hand-to-hand combat which moved from the bridge itself to the thalaron radiation generator room. In the end, Shinzon was killed when Picard used a piece of wreckage to impale Shinzon as the clone lunged in for the kill. With his plans collapsing around him, the dying Shinzon used the last of his strength to pull himself down the makeshift spear and grab the captain by the throat. His last words to Picard were: "Our destiny is complete".

As Picard stood in shock, Data arrived and transported the captain back to the Enterprise. Data then fired his phaser at the thalaron generator, destroying himself and the Scimitar and effectively concluding Shinzon's plan for galactic conquest. (Star Trek Nemesis)

In addition to shaving his head, Hardy had to wear a prosthetic nose and chin in order to more closely resemble Patrick Stewart, as he was supposed to be playing a younger version of Stewart's character. Ironically, in the film Shinzon cites his nose and jaw as being different from those of Picard.

A deleted scene which took place early in the film revealed that Shinzon's motives in wiping out the population of Earth were twofold; firstly as an act of revenge against humanity, and secondly as the first step of a larger plan to invade the United Federation of Planets. By destroying Earth, Shinzon would also have wiped out the Federation Council and Starfleet Command, rendering the Federation unable to mount an adequate defense against the Blitzkrieg-style attack that the Romulans would then deploy. His ultimate aim was to make a name for himself as the man who destroyed the Federation, thereby eclipsing Picard in the history books. However, this entire subplot was removed from the finished film, thereby changing Shinzon's motive to being one purely of revenge.

It remains uncertain as to when exactly Shinzon was created. He was most likely created some time in 2364 (when the Romulans emerged from isolation). He could not have been created after 2365, because he spent ten years in the Reman mines, but also fought in the Dominion War (in which the Romulans fought from 2374-2375). According to Beverly Crusher, in the novelization of the film, Shinzon was created approximately twenty-five years earlier, in or around 2354. However, this date is out of continuity with the events of the series:

In 2354, Picard was still in command of the USS Stargazer, and would not take command of the Enterprise until 2364; it is unlikely that the Romulans would have targeted him as a useful infiltrator at that time (although the Romulans may have learned from Tasha Yar that Picard might be destined to become captain of the Federation flagship).

"Shinzon"

Also, in the short story "Twilight's Wrath" (see below) it is stated that the name "Shinzon" is Reman for "twilight." This name was given to him by his Viceroy, Vkruk because of his "irrepressible fascination with the fine line that separated light and darkness."

In his foreword to J.M. Dillard's novelization of the film, screenwriter John Logan says that he based the name "Shinzon", as well as all the other Reman and Romulan names in the story on ancient Chinese names, in homage to Gene Roddenberry's creation of the Romulans as an analog to 1960's CommunistChina.

Apocrypha

The short story "Twilight's Wrath" (in the novel Tales of the Dominion War) is the back story to Star Trek Nemesis as Shinzon and his Viceroy begin their plans to takeover the Romulan Star Empire, when he and his regiment of Reman shock troops are ordered on a suicide mission to re-take a secret Tal Shiar research facility from the Dominion. Inside the facility, Shinzon finds the Thalaron generator and a powered-down copy of Data, known as B-4. The story implies that B-4 was also intended by the Romulans to infiltrate the Federation, hence Shinzon refers to B-4 as 'brother'. Shinzon also discovers in the facility's records the truth about his own origins, which he was previously ignorant of.

The story implies that Shinzon and B-4 were created by the Romulans at roughly the same time; if this were true, the most opportune time for them to have "copied" Picard and Data would be in 2368, after the two were captured on Romulus while trying to locate AmbassadorSpock (TNG: "Unification II").

In the briefing prior to a mission inside the Federation campaign within the game Star Trek: Starfleet Command III, Captain Picard tells the player the following: "Recent intelligence reports suggest that a suspicious person - not a Romulan - is forming a coalition to challenge the Praetor's authority.". This could be a reference to the character.

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